Tonight’s been a busy night, in that we’ve talked to a half dozen people on three times as many subjects – including Team Hillary members in New Hampshire and Maine, who we know well from the primaries.

Here’s the kicker: these people aren’t McCain supporters. Several are working for Obama now in both states, because they have political jobs and thus must tow the party line. Others are voting Green and no longer campaigning for anyone, but are tuned into things in their states.

We know nothing about New Hampshire or Maine and have never pretended to. We won’t start now. All we’ll tell you is what these people told us tonight, and it’s that they truly do expect John McCain to win both New Hampshire and Maine next week, for the reasons they gave below:

(1) In both states, they have never seen an enthusiasm deficit for Democrats like this. Hillary Democrats there say there are more “closet McCain supporters” than anyone can count. Despite what the media says, people are not enthused and fired up to go out and vote for Obama — quite the contrary: people are scare of Obama’s policies and will be voting McCain. The enthusiasm deficit in both New Hampshire and Maine is “as clear as day” according to those we spoke to tonight. They say they do not see anywhere near the level of Obama signs, stickers, buttons, etc. out this year, as they did Kerry, Gore, Clinton, and even Dukakis gear in years past. They say this is actually shocking, because it should be everywhere, but no one cares enough to put those signs out. No one can use the excuse that there’s not enough money for signs and stickers: Obama’s campaign is supposedly rolling in dough, so why aren’t New Hampshire and Maine blanketed in Obama signs? Because people don’t want them in their yards and won’t be voting for him.

(2) We asked why people in these states are not voting for Obama and were told that in Maine, especially, a lot of it has to do with Joe the Plumber and redistributing the wealth. Much of Maine makes its living off the sea: fishermen pull in $200,000 or more a year in family businesses. Joe Biden’s slip that Obama really intends to define “wealthy” as $150,000 a year or above sent terror through Maine’s fishing community and other small business industries.  We were told tonight that Maine and New Hampshire have more small family businesses that would be affected by Obama’s redistribution of wealth than we could imagine. Joe the Plumber resonated with these people — especially the fishermen. Todd Palin was recently dispatched to Maine in what the media claimed was an attempt to score one electoral college vote for Maine: tonight we were told it looks like McCain will win the whole state, not just that one congessional district.

(3) Sarah Palin was the smartest move John McCain could ever have made — she is playing incredibly well in Maine and New Hampshire, two states made up of mostly small towns, all of whom are outdoorsy and have traditions of female mayors, council members, and other high elected officials. Maine has two female United States Senators. That honestly never occured to us until now, but it does make a lot of sense. We knew Hillary Clinton would never win Iowa in the primaries because Iowa’s never elected a woman to high office — Maine has. Many, many times. People relate to Palin and trust John McCain. They like these candidates — while Obama in an unknown whose relationships and judgment make people uneasy. Add the socialism business to the top of this, and we’re told it moves New Hampshire and Maine into the red column.

Like we said at the start of this, we don’t know what to add here because these are two states we didn’t work for Hillary Clinton and that we know little about. The above was reported to us, and passed onto you, but the sources are solid people we know well, and whom we respect.

The other interesting tidbit that came out of the conversation tonight was that of the Hillary Clinton convention delegates who are openly supporting John McCain, the largest number of these people come from states that held caucuses.

We were told tonight that no one is yet picking up on the fact that Democrats in states that held caucuses, and who saw firsthand the fraud, voter intimidation, and other vile tricks Obama pulled in caucus states have NOT forgotten about any of this. These people are still LIVID that a Democrat dared to use Chicago fraud and intimidation to game the caucus system. The Clinton delegates from caucus states have been coordinating efforts amongst themselves for payback against Obama on November 4th, since no state will vote in a caucus then.

We’re told this is the reason that Iowa is so much closer than we ever dreamed it would be.  Remember, we have insisted McCain would lose Iowa because of his opposition to ethanol subsidies. So, we’ve been baffled by McCain and Palin’s appearances throughout Iowa, or the fact internals we see show the state incredibly close. We never could figure out why — and it was so obvious this whole time.  THE CAUCUS FRAUD Obama committed back in January is coming back to bite him in a HUGE way. Because of the ethanol opposition, McCain should be losing Iowa by large numbers — but the people we spoke to this evening says he’ll end up winning the state, largely because of Democrats who are so disgusted by the behavior of Obama’s followers during the caucuses.

This isn’t just Hillary Democrats either. It’s a large swath of Democrats who feel violated by the tactics Obama employed in their state — bringing thugs from Chicago across the Illinois border to vote in Iowa’s caucuses. People there remember the truth, and will have that in mind on November 4th.

We aren’t prepated to say whether we agree with any of this in terms of New Hampshire, Maine, or Iowa. We still believe Obama will take Iowa because of ethanol, but the people we spoke to were very convincing to the contrary. The ones in Maine and New Hampshire insisted over and over again that they’ve been at this for years and Obama is just not going to win either state.

They have never seen enthusiasm for a Democratic candidate so low — or fear of small-business-killing socialism so high. These people know in their guts McCain will win these states.

It’s how we feel about Ohio, the state we know best and report on frequently here. McCain will win Ohio, with no doubt in our mind. And others feel the same about New Hampshire, Maine, and Iowa.

And all of us agree that on election night, the media will be spinning and sputtering and trying to explain things that those of us on the ground have seen coming for months now.

Anyone from New Hampshire, Maine, or Iowa, please add your thoughts here — since we will never be able to research your states enough to form a strong opinion on any of this. But, we’d love to hear what you think of the reports on these states we received today.

 

 

Help us pull together buses for canvassing into Ohio this weekend to win the Buckeye State for McCain — every little bit helps, and will bring a small army to northeast Ohio to work hard for McCain/Palin!